A Single Step
by 14horcruxes
Summary: After the events of the previous summer, Jason Grace has a fresh start at the college in New Rome with the rest of the 7. Bitter from his breakup with Piper, Jason does not expect to find anything remotely resembling love, but soon he meets a girl who makes him feel things he has never felt before. Fresh starts are hard, but every journey must begin with a single step.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hi guys! So, this fanfic is more for my peace of mind than anything else. You see…Jasper/Jiper is kind of a problematic fave for me. I hate them or I ADORE them. You see, its nice getting that racial representation; normally girls with brown skin (of whichever ethnicity) end up with some creepy guy they don't love or are too focused on work to think about love. Piper is beautiful and spontaneous and I love that. HOWEVER, I'm not into her and Jason together. See, Jason is this grounded and focused guy who is internally conflicted and needs some stability and Piper wants someone mushy and cute (e.g. she was jealous when Percy and Annabeth snuck out and fell asleep together on the Argo). SO without further ado, here is Jason and the girl who I imagined him with. Please don't hate me**_

 _JASON'S POV_

The first day of school was always a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Starting college at New Rome with all his friends would definitely be an experience, not a 'fighting Gaea lest she destroy the world' kind of experience, but an experience nonetheless. The summer had ended on a slightly bitter note, with him and Piper ending their relationship. They discovered that they stayed together through their adventure mostly because it was nice to have someone, someone to hold and to talk to but after everything was over, they discovered that they wanted different things.

Jason blamed himself. He found it hard showing emotion. He was raised in the heart of order and discipline and soon he was leading it as Praetor of Camp Jupiter with Reyna. He did have feelings for Piper but he forgot that no matter how good she was at reading emotions (being a child of Aphrodite), she could not read his mind. She could not telepathically know he loved her and so she took him to being some stoic figure upholding rules and morals. Piper was not one for rules and morals. She was a free spirit. She surfed, she had feathers in her hair, and when she danced with him on the roof that one night she looked at him like he was the only man in the world. So, when it came to that campfire, the campfire where they ended things, Jason could not help but feel a little bitter. He remembered everything.

 _FLASHBACK_

The breeze rustled the leaves in the trees and the smell of the bonfire wafted through the summer wind. Nico, as usual, was dressed in all black, even in this sweltering heat, but Jason could not help but smile when he saw Nico's eyes light up as he roasted a marshmallow. Piper hadn't arrived yet so he was just sitting on a log and taking in his surroundings. He felt that feeling when you have nothing to do except live and feel alive. He looked around at his friends; he saw Annabeth resting her head on Percy's shoulder; Frank collecting more firewood as Hazel danced around him; Leo making Calypso laugh as he made little figurines dance in the fire; and he saw Nico roasting marshmallows with Will and smiling. Nico was smiling and with all that poor kid had been through, Jason felt warm. He felt good. Finally, he saw Piper rise up above the clearing towards him.

"Pipes!" he shouted enthusiastically. Something had felt a bit 'off' about their relationship for the past few weeks and he really did want to make an effort

"Hey!" she said and gave him a swift peck on the cheek. "Do you think we could sneak off for some time after a bit? I wanted to talk to you about something."

Jason's heart sunk. People only said they wanted to talk about something if it was a bad thing. Before he could ask her what it was, she had already left to go hug Annabeth and talk to the rest of the group.

Jason sat back down on his log, which was dangerously close to breaking and stared into the fire. He tried to take his mind off of what he thought was happening by watching the fire dance. Leo had stopped conjuring tiny dancers in it but it was distracting nonetheless. He hadn't realised how absorbed he was until he heard Percy ask

"Hey Jason, you okay man? You're crackling"

"What do you mean I'm crackling? If anything I'm electrifying" Jason joked back

"No, I'm serious man, you've got sparks running up and down your arm"

Sure enough, when Jason looked down he saw blue flickers dancing up and down his forearms at lightning speed.

"Sorry, I've just got some stuff on my mind. I'm okay" Jason said, catching Piper shooting him a worried glance. She walked towards him and indicated that they should go take that walk right about now.

Jason got up, trying to slow down his heart rate in a desperate attempt to make the crackling stop. It did. Piper took his hand and they walked a distance from the campfire.

"Jason, I think you know what I'm going to say" she began

"We're breaking up aren't we?"

"Jason, I want to be friends. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with you and if I hadn't had you by my side this whole time I don't think I would have made it. But I think that the majority of the romantic feelings I had for you was a side effect of Hera messing with our brains. Now that we've both had time to get to know each other, I think we make better friends than we do a couple".

"Piper, is it me? Is it because I'm not open enough with my feelings? Because I can and I WILL work on that" Jason added

"Jason, we have a great thing here. I don't want to spoil it by having some messy breakup down the line. You have to admit that there is truth to what I am saying"

Jason knew what she was saying was right did not want to admit this truth so he just stood there and looked at her. She held his hands in hers.

"Jason, I am a child of Aphrodite. I have intuitions about these things and you have to trust me when I say that better things are coming for you."

"Promise me we'll stay friends" was all Jason could muster. He felt an overwhelming sense of loss. He'd lost Reyna through no fault of his own and now he'd lost Piper and he wasn't sure if he could have prevented it

"OF COURSE DOUCHEFACE! You're still one of my best friends!" Piper exclaimed before giving him a hug.

He took in her scent. Her hair smelled like strawberries. He felt the way his hands sat comfortably on her waist and he knew he'd never feel the curves of her body in this way again. That was for someone else.

"Can you tell the others I went back because I wasn't feeling well?" Jason asked. "It's not your fault, I've been feeling a bit off all day"

Piper nodded before adding "You can still come to me for anything. We've told each other everything until now and that's not going to change."

Jason smiled at her and looked beyond at his friends at the fire before turning and walking away, staring intently at his shadow as he made his way back to Cabin One. He didn't look back

 ** _A/N: I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS! It's my first ever time writing and well, I'm going through a stressful period right now (Seniors in HS hit me up) and writing has always been an outlet for me. Let me know if you enjoyed this, comment what you'd like to see next (I don't have anything too particular in mind in regards to this story e.g. do you want a Quest? Or just general college life? etc.). I'll try and upload one chapter a week if I'm not too busy but I won't give up on this (unless you're begging me to). Have a lovely day/night :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hope you guys liked the last chapter! Since it's labour day weekend I thought I'd upload today. So, without further ado, here goes**

 _JASON'S POV_ :

The sun was searing. California in August was not pleasant in the least. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and made my way through Camp Jupiter. I saw Percy and Annabeth in the distance, holding hands and looking cute. I couldn't help but feel envious.

"Hey guys! Wait up!" I shouted and ran after them.

They turned to face me and Percy broke out into a smile.

"Duuuude! It's been so long, how are you man?" he asked as he hugged me.

"Not too bad, pretty nervous for the first day" I replied

"Tell me about it! I hope I get a good professor and a good roommate and generally just good…" Annabeth interjected before Percy interrupted her

"Wise Girl, you're gonna be just fine".

She looked up at him, smiled, and kissed him. I, who was now awkwardly third wheeling, awkwardly asked if they wanted to get coffee since they had more than half an hour to kill before class.

"Hey so where is everyone else anyway?" I asked. I hadn't seen Leo, Hazel, Frank, Nico, or _Piper_ in a long time.

"Ummm…Leo and Calypso are probably still asleep, and Hazel and Frank went to get bagels." Percy replied "As for Nico, he probably has a doctor's appointment" he added cheekily.

I realised none of them had mentioned Piper. i didn't want to ask again, I'd seem desperate. I wasn't desperate, no, not at all. Just curious. There was nothing wrong with a little harmless curiosity. Even if it did kill the cat.

Annabeth came up behind me before whispering "Jason, I really am sorry about Piper. She told me everything, I hope you're okay."

I shot her a quick smile before responding "Well, here's the coffee shop, let's head in". I didn't want to talk about it, at least not yet. I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. I was loyal, it was in my blood and the sudden break up with Piper had hurt me. I hated myself for wanting a messier break up. At least I'd have reason to want to leave, but this, this was unexpected, and I didn't truly know what I had done wrong.

We walked into the coffee shop and saw Frank and Hazel laughing over bagels and coffee.

"Frank! Hazel!" I cried out. I had missed them, a lot.

"Bro!" Frank cried out, before tackling me in a hug, and knocking me into a table "Um, sorry..didn't mean to do that"

"I missed you too man" i added, before turning to see Annabeth hugging Hazel. I liked this, I felt like a normal teenager. Here I was, just in a coffee shop with my friends, getting breakfast before college; it was just good-natured fun.

Suddenly, the bell above the door tinkled as another customer walked in. Habitually, we all turned around to see the source of the noise. I'd never seen the girl who walked in before, no wait, I had seen her fight for Camp Half-Blood last summer in the war against Gaea. It was funny, I'd only seen a glimpse of her face and yet I still remembered how confident and composed she'd seemed even as she plunged her sword into the enemy's chest. Today though, she wasn't in battle armour. She was in white denim shorts and a psychedelic top with Coldplay written on the front in black, bold letters. Her long, black hair was tied back, away from her face in a ponytail. Her skin was bronzed, the colour of caramel, which complimented her tortoiseshell glasses greatly. She flashed us a quick smile and turned away. I was getting ahead of myself now, I thought and turned back to the group where hopefully nobody had caught me staring.

The girl went to the booth with a blonde girl and a boy he recognised as being Adam, from Camp Half Blood. She was greeted by a chorus of "Myna!" as she went over to hug them. I liked seeing people reunited with people they loved. It was funny, here you knew nothing about them and yet there was someone out there who was overjoyed seeing them. It made me feel like I had a place in the world.

 _MYNA'S POV_

I loved Edesia's. I had only been a few times but the coffee and brownies were TO DIE FOR. I tied my silver caduceus necklace around my neck, put my celestial dagger in my backpack and made my way to meet my friends. I was worried I looked too casual for the first day of college but it was easily 100 degrees outside and I was not going to die of heatstroke for the sake of fashion. I let my mind wander as I walked to the cafe. I hadn't been able to do that very much recently. Since the Titan War and the war against Gaea, i felt like i couldn't turn off my battle reflexes. I felt like I always had to be on alert, just in case a Minotaur came barging through camp to skewer me. I hated feeling sorry for myself, after all, Percy Jackson and his friends had been through hundred times more than me. I'd led some small-time missions, killed some small time monsters, but he, he'd defeated the Lord of the Titans himself. I reached Edesia's and made my way in. I saw a group of friends turn to look at me, ah, it was Percy and his friends. I flashed them a quick smile before catching the eye of the tall blond guy in glasses. I'd seen him before, but I couldn't remember his name. I think it started with a J, or maybe an S. Oh well, he was well out of my league, there was no point even dreaming about it.

I looked over to the table with Izzy and Adam. I hadn't seen them all summer and just the sight of their faces lifted my heart. I ran towards them, not caring what I looked like. They were my best friends. I was greeted with a chorus of 'Mina' as I tackled Izzy onto the booth.

"I've missed you guys so much" I shrieked as i went to pull Adam into a hug.

"Guuuuurl, I have so much to tell you" Izzy said. When she said 'gurrrl' you knew you were in for some quality gossip. As a daughter of Aphrodite, she was naturally beautiful and charming and had undoubtedly attracted some sexy Spanish boy on her travels through Europe before tragically breaking his heart. She was a testament to her mother. Speaking of Aphrodite, she was pretty sure the head of the Cabin Piper was dating Jason. Well, Piper was beautiful and charismatic; She and Jason would undoubtedly have attractive and skilled children. Why was I thinking about Jason anyway? He was cute, that was it. I turned my attention back to my friends and listened to how Izzy had lured some guy Paolo, in Rome around Italy before eventually leaving him in Sicily. Classic Izzy.

Suddenly the six-armed barista popped up over the counter with our coffees in three hands and our bagels in his other three.

"Thanks Cato" Adam said before going up with a tray to get our food.

"Roommate assignments are posted on the board opposite the cafeteria by the way" Cato said.

Ah roommates. I was hoping for Izzy but knowing my luck, I'd probably get stuck with some scary girl who'd hate my guts for the next four years. Anyway, there was still half an hour left. I was going to enjoy this morning. Here I was, with my best friends in the most beautiful camp, with the world's best coffee. By the Gods, i was going to enjoy this.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review below (you don't even need an account, isn't that great?!) Your feedback helps me immensely and any constructive criticism is appreciated. Hope you guys have had an amazing weekend and I'll be back this weekend with another chapter!**


End file.
